Bahrain-Merida's Sonny Colbrelli has taken the victory at the Gran Piemonte. The Italian closes like this his 2018 season.

The Italian race was 191 kilometres long between the cities of Racconici and Stupinigi and serves as a preliminary to the last classic of the year: Il Lombardia. The race was predominantly rainy and the escape of the day was neutralised at 13 kilometres from the finish line.

Teams like Bardiani, Gazprom and Quick-Step took control of the speed of the peloton for their respective sprinters. At more than one kilometre to go, James Shaw tried to surprise the pack but he was caught by the riders just as they launched their sprints. Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) showed to be the strongest and crossed the finish line ahead of Florian Senechal (Quick-Step Floors) and Davide Ballerini (Androni Giocattoli).

"With 2km to go, I realized the bunch was split and I told my team-mate, Kristjan Koren, to ride as hard as he could after the last curve because we knew that Androni and Bardiani had good lead-out trains," Colbrelli commented.

"When he gave me the way with 500 metres to go, (Paolo) Simion (Bardiani-CSF) took the lead and I decided to launch my sprint at 350 metres even though it meant a very long sprint. The final stretch seemed to be never-ending although I was able to deal with the gap I straight away got for myself."

The Italian has a very special dedication for this victory. "For sure, this victory is dedicated to my baby girl due to be born in about ten days from now," he said. "She’ll be named Vittoria! It’s been a season of many second places, including some at a very high level, so it’s nice to finish it off with a win."